Highlights from Dark Horse August 2013 Solicitations

It’s the time of the month when the solicitations start rolling off the block, and now Dark Horse has released its solicitations for August.

From the season finales of the Buffyverse, to itty bitty Hellboys, Halo adaptations, alien doctors and gorgeous hardcovers, it’s a solid month for Dark Horse.

Halo, and welcome to Dark Horse

After a whole series of different one-shots and minis at Marvel, one of the biggest video game franchises finds a new comic book home at Dark Horse. Halo: Initiation #1 is the first part of a 3-issue mini-series written by Brian Reed, one of the writers on Halo 4. Promising to tell the origin of Sarah Palmer and the Spartan IV program. Art is from Marco Castiello, who we’ve seen before in Flashpoint: Green Arrow Industries (DC), Secret Invasion: Front Line (Marvel) and Star Wars: Knight Errant Escape (Dark Horse). This is sure to be a big new license for Dark Horse.

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Season finales for the Buffyverse

Angel andFaith #25 marks the end of a season, but don’t worry. As the solicitation for the Christos Gage series says, “as one chapter ends, another begins”.

Meanwhile, the final arc for season 9 of Buffy begins in Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24. It’s a whole time fabric threatening final few stories. Andrew Chambliss helms this one. Hey, what’s Joss Whedon up to these days?

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Resident Alien: The Suicide Blonde

The series that Alan Moore called “a pitch-perfect narrative from two of my favourite creators” returns for another outing from Peter Hogan (Tom Strong) and Steve Parkhouse (Milkman Murders and of course, The Bojeffries Saga with Moore). This time around, the Feds are onto the alien living undercover as Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle, who has found himself running a small practice in small town America. August kicks it off with a Resident Alien: The Suicide Blonde #0.

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Itty Bitty spin-off

It’s been happening with Teen Titans to mixed reception, and now it’s the world’s greatest paranormal investigator’s turn to be reimagined as a kid’s comic. In fact, Itty Bitty Hellboy is written and drawn by Art Baltazar, the creator of Tiny Titans, Superman Family Adventures, and Aw Yeah Comics. Perhaps the rise of Skottie Young, JL8, Teen Titans Go and now this are indicative that we don’t want to take our comics so seriously after all? On behalf of the young at heart everywhere, we sincerely hope so!

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Hardcovers worth waiting for

This is a bit of a cheat. These don’t actually come out until October, but they are solicited this month so there. Plus, they are cool. Hellboy: The MIdnight Circus is an original 56-page graphic novel from Mike Mignola, with art from Duncan Fegredo. In this tale, “Young Hellboy runs away from the B.P.R.D. only to stumble upon a weird and fantastical circus and the few demons from Hell who inhabit it”. Sounds essential. Meanwhile, a beautiful hardcover for the The Art of Akaneiro from American McGee (W) and Spicy Horse Games (A/C),the reimagining of Red Riding Hood as a monster hunter in mythological Japan.That one is 96 pages, and comes in at a cool $19.99.